Chris Jordan: Midway

Chris Jordan: Midway

MIDWAY a Message from the Gyre is a beautiful short film by visual artist and cultural activist Chris Jordan. Itchronicles the daily lives of the Laysan albatrosses that flock to the tiny Midway atoll in the Pacific Ocean to nest amongst abandoned WWII machinery. It is a powerful visual journey into the heart of an symbolic environmental tragedy. On one of the remotest islands on our planet, tens of thousands of baby albatrosses lie dead on the ground, their bodies filled with plastic from the ‘Pacific Garbage Patch’.

Since 2009, Seattle photographer Chris Jordan has been traveling there to photograph the effects pollution is having on its feathered inhabitants. The birds, which feed on squid, fish and other food near the water’s surface, have been accidentally ingesting plastic flotsam and feeding it to their chicks, causing thousands to die each year.

The project has been expanded into a feature film, MIDWAY, currently in post-production and expected to premiere in early 2014 – you can see the official trailer for it here.